NTA WORKING FOR YOU
A Pease-ability study
NTA meeting planner sets sights on two Travel Exchange shows in ’17
Travel Exchange ’17
won’t be Katey
Pease’s first rodeo.
Pease, who serves as
NTA’s vice president
of business development, has been on
staff since 2002. That
makes our upcoming
event in St. Louis her 15th convention.
With 14 shows under her belt, Pease is
the perfect brain to pick regarding all
things Travel Exchange. Read on to get
an expert’s take on the industry’s premier travel show.
NTA: Let’s start with what’s unique
in 2017: two Travel Exchanges. Why
should members attend both shows?
Katey Pease: If you attend one show and
not the other, you’ll go one and a half
years without the NTA convention. You
need to be at St. Louis and San Antonio
both so you can foster relationships,
learn about all the new product and stay
innovative in your tour planning. And
by attending in St. Louis, you get half off
your San Antonio registration fees.
NTA: Moving Travel Exchange
back to fourth quarter dates was a
member-driven idea. Can you give
another example of a change that was
made based on member feedback?
KP: The majority of changes are based
on member feedback. Two examples
that come to mind are: 1.) The appointment format—tour operators visit DMOs
based on their region, and 2.) Categories
of tour supplier appointments are
scheduled all on one day, so that suppliers can get into a selling rhythm.
How to maximize the
appointment-scheduling system
Five tips from NTA’s Katey Pease
Get signed up early because the earlier you register, the better
matched your appointments will be.
Request the maximum amount of appointments.
Check back on the Travel Exchange website often—new people
are registering every day.
Do your research. Visit the company websites of those you’ll be
meeting with. By being prepared for an appointment, you maximize your time.
Don’t be shy; make direct requests. If there are members with
whom you’d like to do business, reach out to them and tell them
why you make sense as a business partner.
NTA: We’re all looking forward to
TREX17 in St. Louis in February, but
you’re already looking ahead to conventions further in the future. How early do
you start planning for Travel Exchange?
KP: We’re already looking for our sites for
2019 and 2020, so we’re involved in a lot
of different phases of convention planning at the same time. On any given day,
I could be working on a Travel Exchange
that’ll happen in six months or six years.
NTA: What do you look for in an evening event, and do you work with your
host city on a theme and location?
KP: Typically our evening event themes
are based on their venue. We look for
venues that are close to the host hotel,
but most important, we need them to
be tourism-related and offer something
that is of value to tour operators—
something that members can use in
future itineraries.
NTA: What do you enjoy most about
convention week?
KP: Initially I enjoyed seeing all the
hard work and effort paying off, and of
course I still do. But now it’s seeing my
tourism friends every year and making
those face-to-face connections with our
members. NTA is truly a family.
NTAonline.com
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